The Karate Kid

The Karate Kid (1989) is a short lived animated series following Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi as they go on these insane globetrotting adventures and it was a lot of fun to watch.

Positives for The Karate Kid (1989): It was fun to see these two great characters going on these adventures and helping other people. You still get the charm of Pat Morita voicing Mr. Miyagi in this series. The guy voicing Daniel LaRusso is pretty good. The old school 80s animation looks good. The action sequences are fun and wild. And finally, the show is free to watch on YouTube.

Negatives for The Karate Kid (1989): While I did have fun watching the series, it feels odd seeing Daniel and Mr. Miyagi going on these insane adventures. The various villains in this show are very forgettable. The girl who is teaming up with Daniel and Mr. Miyagi is also very forgettable. And finally, there is nothing in this series that helps it stand out and take above to become one of my favorite animated series of all time.

Overall, The Karate Kid (1989) is a fun animated series in The Karate Kid franchise and I would recommend it to fans of the franchise as it is free to watch on YouTube through various channels.

Two things which don't surprise me about this cartoon show: that it was made in the first place and that it didn't last long. Timing is a major factor. "The Karate Kid" movies were still fresh in the minds of the public at the time, otherwise the cartoon wouldn't have been green lit. I can't take the episodes too seriously (folly to do otherwise), so it's simply a case of switching off the brain cells for the duration. The animation itself, has the distinctive juvenile look about it. Children aged between 7 to 10 might find some appeal. "The Karate Kid" has long faded into 1980s cartoon obscurity but I can tolerate the show in small doses.

So there was an animated series of Karate Kid. I knew this, because my older brother is always saying that the animated series is better than Karate Kid III and Cobra Kai. What? I do not agree. This show seems like it is best to keep you entertained for a half an hour each Saturday in 1989, and that's it.

Instead of seeing characters like Johnny Lawrence and John Kreese. We are stuck with Taki. A horrible replacement for Kumiko with a name based off of a chip snack you find at your local Walmart. Yeah, "Takis"? No tournaments and they are after a magical shrine with powers, that they lose the end of every episode just to get another episode. No wonder this got only 13 episodes!! I can't recommend this show at all. You're better off watching the original movies.

To think I forgot about this cartoon from my beloved decade - the 1980's! Loosely based on the hit film franchise of the same name, it starts with Daniel staying in Okinawa, Japan, after fighting Chozen, for a while. One adventure after another with Mr. Miyagi and this cute Temple girl makes for what was to be expected as an exciting series. Sadly, it did not quite garner a following as hoped, like the movies did. I cannot say anything bad about this series, however.....like the 90's campy Street Fighter movie with Van Damme....more could've been done with this series to make it where it could've formed a cult following. Plus, the voice-actors sounded almost like they weren't quite into this colorful attempt. Well-animated for the 80's, though. To me, what kept this series from disappearing after just an episode or two was the appearance of Pat "Mr. Miyagi" Morita during the opening scenes.

LONG LIVE THE 1980's!!

The 80's were a time when things looked great, everybody was making money hand over fist and cartoons were everywhere. It didn't matter what the subject matter was. Take a product that was popular and make a cartoon about it. So what happens when you take a popular enough movie franchise that is gearing up to release a third movie? Why make a cartoon about it of course. And this is where we get "The Karate Kid".

It takes place sometime after the second movie. Daniel has decided to stay in Okinawa with Mr. Miyagi and learn karate. Well at the local museum a magical thingie is stolen and Mr. Miyagi, Daniel and some Japanese girl that was created for this series go all over the world trying to track it down and bring the treasure home. Along the way they use their karate powers to defeat bad guys and do incredible stunts like seeing Daniel surf a torpedo. I guess if it wasn't for his karate skills he'd be shark bait.

The cartoon itself is bad. What else needs to be said? Nobody seems to remember it, there are no petitions for it to be put on DVD and that's about it. As I said it's a product of the times that really needs to be left where it was.